


from my body, flowers shall grow

by secretlyhuman



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Flowers, Hanahaki Disease, Magical Realism, jake nearly dies, little bits of dianetti
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 09:20:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11552220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretlyhuman/pseuds/secretlyhuman
Summary: his nana had told him the stories since he was a young child, the story of his family's curse. (lowercase intended)





	from my body, flowers shall grow

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because Hanahakis is one of my favourite tropes and because I was procrastinating.  
> Typically Hanahakis can be surgically removed but I wanted it to be more of a threat and because i couldn't decide whether jake would choose to live but have his love for amy removesd for him or not.  
> Thanks for reading x

_"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity."_

_Edvard Munch_

 

his mouth tasted of flowers, plant sap and crushed petals coated his tongue. he knew from the very first day that it would come to this. on the first day they met all he could smell was her perfume, the scent of violets sticking to him. when he’d asked the squad about it they told him her perfume smelt of vanilla.

this was the way it had to happen, with the death of jake peralta.

…

his nana had told him the stories since he was a young child, the story of his family's curse. there were two facets to it. on the one hand there was someone out there, made just for him. a soulmate who would love him no matter what. but then there was the rest of it. from there he had ten years. as the ten years went on the flowers would start. they would follow him, become him, and then it was all a matter of time.

\---

gina didn’t believe him, thought it was utter bull. she told him not only was it scientifically impossible but also he wasn’t interesting enough to be cursed. he fought back in his own way, told her of his grandma’s daisies and the anemones that had nearly killed his father. daisies meant innocence and loyalty, he told her in his child’s vocabulary, reciting back his grandmother's words. which made sense because his grandparents had been the strongest couple basically ever.

he’s always wondered why his nana never spoke of his father’s anemones before he left, she almost seemed to dislike them. he’d looked it up the year after his nana died, unsure of what could be so bad. as it turned out anemones meant abandonment and refusal, which all things considered made sense. it was sad though. his father had had the universe on his side and he still chose to leave.

jake promised himself he would never end up like his father.

…

meeting new people set jake on edge, any of them could end up smelling like flowers, the person who would or love him or be responsible for his death. joining the academy, something that he’d dreamed of since he was a child, had been one of the most stressful experiences of his life. everytime he smelt the chemical flowers of the cheap perfume girls in his class wore, his heart stuttered a little. he wanted someone who would love him but he was scared of what could happen if they didn’t.

he met rosa, she smelt of leather and metal, not one hint of flowers.  one day she’d worn rose perfume and he hadn’t talked to her the entire day. she’d punched him for that but he couldn’t explain to her why it was so wrong to him. he wanted to explain the curse, to explain it all away. but at first he couldn’t, the words would crumble and die on his tongue, building up in the back of his throat. carrying the burden of it made him feel like he was already suffocating in the flowers he knew would always follow him.  as their friendship progressed rosa could tell something was wrong, something haunted him and there was nothing she could do.

it was a spring day when he worked up the courage, the scent of pollen hanging in the air like a threat. to his surprise she didn’t laugh, didn’t tell him he was full of shit, just nodded quietly. at the end of the speech he’d prepared she’d just paused for a second, like she was about to say something but instead she just walked away. he pretended the rejection didn’t sting, he was not sure what he expected, someone as sensible as rosa was never going to believe him about the flowers he knew were growing in his lungs.

what he hadn’t expected was what happened the next day. she’d told him he wasn’t alone, that it in ran in her family to. they went drinking and when she was so drunk she could barely stand explained that she had three sisters and all of them were just biding their time, praying that the flowers wouldn’t come for them.

…

for the first time jake looked for an explanation. spent one long night googling idea after idea. he discovered that in the seventies it had been studied by a man called Hanahaki but he couldn’t explain it. he did find that once it started there was no cure. for the first time jake felt a little hopeless about it all. one day the flowers would find him and there was nothing he could do.

…

in his first week as a beat cop he’d met stevie shillens. stevie didn't smell like flowers he smelt almost earthy, like mint and dirt, and jake thought to himself maybe this was what his grandma meant all those years ago. somewhere deep down jake knew this wasn't it, the connection that could ruin his life, but he wanted to believe he got it right first time. when he and stevie kissed his heart flutteres like it was trapped, locked in his ribs. it’s good. it feels right.

when he told rosa he and stevie were moving in together she gave him a look. to an outsider it would look like she’d just glaring at him but he can tell underneath it all that she was worried for him. this was what he wanted, the simplicity of romance without the plants he knows were always there, just waiting. he'd never told stevie. the strangeness of it not lost on him. stevie wouldn’t have listened, would have thought he was going mad. jake convinced himself it wasn't madness, just his life. he wished it could stay that simple but he knew he was at the whim of the Hanahaki curse.

…

when gina first entered the precinct rosa went pale. she told jake later that day that when gina entered the room all she could smell was honeysuckle. (and if jake wasn’t sure about him and stevie before he sure as hell isn’t now.)

…

when stevie and jake broke up all jake could feel was relief. it meant he could stop pretending.

…

he didn’t learn what rosa meant until detective amy santiago walked into the nine-nine. the second he saw her he was overcome with the scent of violets. this (she) is it for him, one way or another and he knew it, felt it in his bones and his aching lungs. rosa says that amy smells faintly of vanilla and that jake needs to get a grip but he doesn’t know how when the beautiful, smart detective had the potential to kill him.

…

as much as he wants to love amy for her first year at the precinct he doesn’t even feel he likes her. everytime she talks it reminds him of violets and a clock ticking down. 

…

rosa coughed up a single petal one day at shaw’s bar. the sound of her hacking and wheezing stuck in his brain, he knew that he was next, it will be him to. none of the squad are there, just the two of them in the booth they’ve sat in since they were over eager academy students. if he didn’t know better he would think rosa was about to cry.

the next day at work she slammed her hand down on gina’s desk, told her to be at an upscale restaurant at seven the following night. she made it look so easy and for a second jake almost turns around and tells amy everything. except. he sees a crumpled honeysuckle flower on rosa’s desk and finds her shaking in the evidence locker half an hour later. the consequences of what would happen if they screw up hanging over them both.

…

in his own misguided way jake thought the bet was the same as asking amy on a real, not terrible date. he knew she would agree to one and not the other. he also knew his time was running out, they had five years left. reaching the halfway mark sent jake into a mood so bad half the precinct had noticed. sometimes, on the worst days, anger ripped through him like a tide. he's a good person, he thought. how did this become his life, spending his days pining and fearful.

…

every month or so he woke up with blood in his mouth and small purple petals on his bed sheets.

…

during the year of the bet, it got worse. the petals increased, appearing at least once a month. he didn't know how to control it but couldn't act on it either. he wanted her to choose him, not be obligated to him so he doesn’t die. and he doesn’t want to become his father, in a relationship chosen by the flowers that was never going to work.

…

he looks at her as he turns down the relief team and realises he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her happy. the smell of violets felt like it was smothering him.

…

he’s given the mafia assignment nearly a full year after the date. for the past twelve months he pined for her but couldn’t bring himself to take the risk. he wasn't sure but he thinks the rejection might kill him immediately. rosa says that he’s dying anyway so what has he got to lose but she and gina had been happy for so long that rosa doesn’t remember the taste of petals. he’d nearly got the courage a few weeks before but then he’d found out she had a date with a guy called teddy. he's a cop and he made her smile, she even wore lipstick for him. jake couldn’t take away her happiness, he liked (loved) her too much for that.

so he took the assignment, hoping to clear his head.  before he’d gone away he’d told her he’d liked her - romantic stylez -  but the discomfort it caused was clear on her face so he didn’t push it. at least now he could say that he had tried. (and if he coughed up blood and violets on the way to the ianucci’s bar that was nobodies business but his own.)

…

when he came back she was still with teddy and he made his peace with it. maybe this was the way it was meant to happen. she told him that he came back different and he says it’s from what he saw in the mob. really, he’s just realised he might die. it took his nana and grandpa seven years but after the mission he’s now approaching eight. he wonders if his nana was scared.

…

he tries to date sophia but the first night she woke up to violets on her pillow she left. he doesn’t blame her. if he could, he would walk away from it to. he’s haunted by the scent of violets even when they’re miles apart.

…

he invites teddy to the maple drip inn and it hurts but, he thinks, it will be worth it to see her smile.  all he can do is set her up to be as happy as possible in his absence. then her and teddy broke up right in front of him and teddy says she liked him. the break up is messy and it hurts him as she cries but it sets up some glimmer of hope inside him, amongst the flowers.

…

as he approaches nine years he coughed up flowers daily. they littered the floor by his desk and filled his trashcan. when amy asked where the violets come from he shrugs, hopeing she doesn’t see the blood that stains some of the petals. rosa told him that he was dying.

…

he reached a breaking point as they chase a man who stole classified information from a government building. as they drove to the meeting point he filled his pockets with flowers. his coughing mkde amy think he was sick, she wasn't wrong.

…

when the buyer spotted them in the park amy pushed him up against a tree and kissed him so hard he couldn't breathe. his mouth tasted like petals and sap and he imagines now hers does to. they arrested the perp and he thought maybe this wouldn’t be the worst way to go. he kissed her once and this was always the way it was going to end. when they get back to the precinct the captain said he was transferring to pr and jake spent five minutes in the bathroom, his coughs more blood than violets. he doesn’t know if his nana was scared but he was. he felt so pathetic, hunched on the ground surrounded by bloody flowers.

…

he found her in the evidence lock up, flipping through a box, eyes filled with tears. he could practically see the effort she’s using to stop them from falling.

“hey, ames, i just wanna say, you’re my best friend, you know that right.” his words are soft and her confusion at the sentiment was displayed across her face. he knew it could only get worse from there and he wanted to leave her with a positive last image of him.

as he turned to leave the room he thought he heard her saying his name.he almost didn’t turn back, not wanting to seem as pitiful as he felt. but curiosity won out. it felt like turning in slow motion, scared of what he would see. what he didn’t expect was for her to practically launch herself across the inches between them. their faces colliding at an awkward angle but it’s enough for the curse to be broken. he realised that she chose him and he could have almost laughed from all the joy coursing through him as they kiss. (he wonders if maybe she’d been choosing him for a while and his fear made him blind to it.) she pulled away for a second then kissed him again, long and soft and slow. he thinks it might be the happiest he’s ever been.

…

for the first time in almost nine years jake peralta couldn't smell violets.

**Author's Note:**

> So in this univers Hanahakis can affect anyone but mostly it passes from generation to generation in families so jake and rosa both know they will probably get it.
> 
> Also I have this headcanon where Jake hates capital letters because they disrupt his writing so he has to take his pen off his paper more which slows him down so where it was from jake's perspective i dint use any capital letters.


End file.
